Thursday, December 20, 2012

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

There are 4 applications related to the wine business in the new gTLD program. Yesterday took place new gTLD prioritization draw where each application was assigned a randomly-drawn priority number. These priority numbers are used to determine the order in which initial evaluation results are released. To learn more about the "Initial Evaluation", the direct link on the ICANN web site is here (watch the video).

.WINE application number 1 from "June Station LLC" came out in second, on position 917;

.WINE application number 2 from "dot Wine Limited" came out third, on position 1158;

.WINE application number 3 from "Afilias Limited" came out fourth, on position 1291.

Unless I am wrong, I believe .VIN domain names could see the day before .WINE unless the .VIN application is blocked because of the GAC Early Warning or an Objection(s). Even it this was the case, I doubt this will happen. It is possible the Independent Objector acts too.

Even if I completely disagree with ICANN regarding how similar applications in different languages are considered, another good thing for the .VIN application is that - and this is a paradox - ICANN seems to consider that .VIN has nothing to do with .WINE. Writing the famous New gTLD Applicant Guidebook, no one has imagined a Top-Level Domain could mean the exact same thing in another language and raise the exact same problems when it addresses to a specific industry (1).

Also, the Applicant Guidebook does not consider that a specific industry targeted by a domain name extension should be consulted: wine institutions where never asked this simple question: "what do you think about creating domain name extensions for the wine business?". ICANN considers it is the role of the one who pays to offer domain name registration rules, not the industry targeted to write them and ensure consumers will be protected: the Registrants (basically: you). A good solution offered by ICANN was to apply as a "Community project" and have the extension endorsed by a representative of a Community...but unfortunately:

Few knew;

Few paid interest;

No one in the wine industry had the money to invest in these expensive new gTLDs;

Those who knew:

...you will read the end of this sentence in my memories;

...you will read the end of this sentence in my memories;

...you will read the end of this sentence in my memories.

So according to ICANN and since .VIN has absolutely nothing to do with .WINE, these 2 applications will probably be treated separately and one will see the day before the other!

There are 3 .WINE applications in competition and it is possible they go to auction unless 2 of the 3 applicants drop theirs and/or have objections. Here too, it is possible the Independent Objector decides to act.
What is important here is that all .WINE applications are linked in the validation process and one of them is in position 1291 on a list of 1917 when .VIN is in position 618. The application for .VIN will be treated first.

It is also possible I am completely wrong but all comments are welcome and will be published on LinkedIn if you want to participate.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

I will not use (again) the example of problems the wine industry is about to face if .VIN and .WINE domain names don't have the same rules (to register domain names) but if I can be sure about one thing, it is what is written below:

For new gTLD design education, contact Jean Guillon (for graphics and design, I will give you another address).

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Many of you already know about the "New generic Top-Level Domains" group on LinkedIn. I often received very good feed-backs about it and most of its members like to receive daily news i their emails about what is happening in the new gTLD world.

A few days ago, Google offered a new tool to create "Communities". I find Google is very efficient: when it launches a tool, it improves it with time.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

This post follows my previous post regarding the answer received from the French GAC.

GAC members were kind enough to explain to me the process followed by the French Government to have a GAC Early Warning raised.

My English is not good enough to translate the sentence after so I will leave as it is, it French, and so non French speakers - just like it is the case for most ICANN publications - I will request English readers to learn French to understand what is written :

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Carl Fremont from Digitas, one of the leading Integrated brand agencies is confirmed to speak on the agenda of the Digital Marketing & gTLD Strategy Congress which will take place in New-York City in March 11-12, 2013 at the Dream Downtown Hotel.

Two senior speakers from leading agency Interbrand are also confirmed to speak.

Many of the round 1 applicants have told organizers of the conference that they are very keen to hear from the agencies as this will help them refine their launch strategies as well as identify what content should appear on their TLD as opposed to their dot com.

Will also be announced this week that Georges-Edouard Dias was secured to speak, he is the Chief Digital Officer at L'Oréal: a keynote at the event. As a major brand with 13 or so applications L'Oréal has a really interesting story to tell to the audience.

The .VIN GAC Early Warning was submitted by the Ministry of Agriculture after ministries met with the Prime minister during a meeting. Apparently a list of new gTLD applications was drafted and a selection was made for Early Warnings. At least this is how I understand it but I cannot tell if .WINE was on that list.

I was invited to discuss this...

A few definitions (since you are supposed to know all acronyms above):

26 October 2012: Big news! The official website of the ICANN Independent Objector is now online. Another piece of good news announced at the same time is that the site will also offer a French version, which was under construction at the time. More than a month later, the French version is still under construction

Read the end of this article "in english" on CircleID. French version is available on the JDN.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

The "GAC" is part of the ICANN new gTLD validation process. As defined on its web site: "The GAC's key role is to provide advice to ICANN on issues of public policy, and especially where there may be an interaction between ICANN's activities or policies and national laws or international agreements."

The GAC filed 242 objections and these were published today. There are 2 warnings for the .VIN new generic Top Level Domain. I was filed by France, the other one by the Luxembourg.

I can't help it witting this but...there is one new gTLD applicant for .VIN and there are 3 for .WINE but there are no Early Warnings for any of the 3 other .WINE applications! This shows, once again, the lack of understanding by Governments. I love to read in one of the reason/rationale for the warning of .VIN:

"Any product that does not comply with these rules cannot be marketed under the denomination “wine” or “vin” in French".

"Hence, for theaward of the tld.vin it is important to have strictrulesverifying a close relation withthe wine."

The results of these warnings could seriously endanger Registrants (those who would be interested in registering a .vin domain name) to ever be able to register a .vin domain name. These Early Warnings for the .VIN new gTLD only open the way to have different domain name registration rules for .vin and .wine domain names. There is a long discussion about this issue on LinkedIn.

Should Governments have written these objections for one string only and not its translation in English? Certainly not because it is just a non sense to do it for one and not the other. By doing so it is possible the applicant for .VIN just follows a "PossibleRemediation" suggested by the French Government: the simple withdrawal of the application.

In one word: would the applicant for .VIN withdraw its application, the English language, once again, could thank the French Government for offering the wine industry an online identity in English only: the .wine domain names.

I wonder what is going to happen now for the .VIN new gTLD but solutions exist.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Friday, November 16, 2012

My latest (and small) article entitled "Fashion of the Moment: The "Pioneer Program" is available on CircleID.

I strongly encourage applicants wondering about their launching and future Communication to read it. Are concerned applicants with the intention to sell domain name and whose application is not in competition with a similar one.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Remarks by Fadi Chehadé at the Opening Ceremony of the 7th Annual Meeting of the Internet Governance Forum in Baku, Azerbaijan – 06 November 2012

We should give a big hand to the people who have been sitting here through all these speeches; so Under Secretary Wu and Dr. Ali, thank you. I am last, so I have to be quick because I stand between you and a fabulous lunch.

First, my big thanks to the people of Azerbaijan. If there are people from Azerbaijan here, you should know we feel very welcome. This is a great place to be, very warm hospitality. Thank you for that. Thank you for all the work you have put to make us comfortable.

Okay, so I'm the new ICANN president and I'm new and so it's a new beginning and a new season at ICANN. I say it's a new season because one of the things we are committed to do at ICANN is to open ICANN to the world and to bring ICANN to the world. So the first things we are doing are to demonstrate our commitment that ICANN is not an organisation that is limited by its geography. On a practical level, we are getting out of Los Angeles and we're going to the world, we're going to be opening offices around the world, sending our people around the world and reducing our focus from our internal operations to focussing on engagement.

So we brought on board Sally Costerton who is based in Europe and Dr. Tarek Kamel who will soon be based also in the Asian region so we can bring what we do and who we are closer to you, our stakeholders, the people we're supposed to serve and we're committed to do that.

The second thing we're going to do is to stop being a fortress. ICANN should be an oasis that people find as a great place to get their business done, to get their work done. We are going to remove the walls, we are going to make it easier to engage. One of the ministers here asked me, "How do we work with ICANN? Tell me how. We want to engage." We're going to make that possible by engaging, by inviting, by facilitating, by making our structures easier to understand so that all of you can be part of this great mission that we were entrusted with.

On that point, I want to be clear, I am now clear after having spent a couple of months on this: our mission is a limited mission. It is an important mission but it is a limited mission. We belong to an ecosystem of organisations that have roles in the internet. We do our part, they do their part. You saw as a beginning of this new season today when Secretary General Toure brought up how we will work together in this new season. His work at the ITU, the work that our friends at ISOC do, the work that our friends at the IETF do, the work that happens in all the organisations that co-ordinate together to make this possible is important.

My commitment as ICANN is to make sure we're open and we remove the walls and we're truly an oasis of partnerships of real work, of committed work. Finally, I just want to remind us why we're all doing this, why we're all doing this. We're doing this for two reasons: (1) I'm an internet entrepreneur and for 25 years

I've built internet-based companies and I've benefited from the internet. We should make sure that this opportunity that I had is available to all the children and all the youth on the planet who have the possibility to build their dreams on the internet today. This is why I am here because I want to allow others to benefit in the same way I was lucky to benefit from this great enterprise.

The second reason we're here is best embodied in the little girl Malala. Malala, at the age of 11, decided to write a blog and because of it today she lies in a hospital bed trying to live. It is for her that we need to keep this open, we need to work with all the organisations with a deep commitment that young people like Malala can continue voicing what is on their mind, what is in their heart and what they believe and together with all the organisations that I mentioned (the ISOC, the ITU, the W3C, the IETF), all the organisations of goodwill, we are going to make this happen. Thank you.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Thursday November 8, 2012. New York: The Digital Marketing & gTLD Strategy Congress today announced the keynote, speakers, initial sponsors, partners and dates for the inaugural event taking place March 11 & 12, 2013 in New York City.

By mid-2013, the current top level domains (TLDs) such as .com, .net and .org will be joined by several hundred new generic TLDs (gTLDs). These include branded additions such as .Walmart, .Amazon and .Google as well as generic category TLDs like .shop, .money and .app.

The Digital Marketing & gTLD Strategy Congress has been created to bring together digital marketing & branding leadership from the world’s most iconic brands, the creative minds from many of the leading branding agencies as well as the domain and registry community for two days of learning and networking in advance of the release of the first tranche of these new top level domains.

“More than 1900 applications for new TLDs have been received by ICANN, the internet’s governing body, many from leading brands who are looking to dominate or protect their own corner of the web” remarked Christine Hess, event director. ''Today's digital brands need to work fast to ensure that they have a strategy in place for a future with more than 1000 new top level domains.”

The congress is supported by The Advertising Club of New York, Afilias, Domain Diction, Domain Incite, CircleID, WIPR, The Domains, Domain Name Wire and Jovenet and features senior speakers from Afilias, Neustar, Landor, Donuts, Citibank, Dot.Org (The Public Interest Registry), Dot.Ski, Columbia Business School, and Deloitte.

Roland LaPlante, CMO and Senior Vice President of Afilias commented. “ICANN’s new gTLD program will forever change the way brands leverage the Internet. Brand Managers and Agencies that figure this out early will gain first mover advantages and a real boost versus competition.”

With ICANN presently expected to make their initial approvals by June 2013, this essential event is perfectly timed and located to provide applicant brands with the information and support they will need prior to launch - as well as give non applicant, and prospective applicant brands the information and guidance they need to navigate the new Internet landscape.

Conference keynote, Louis Cohen, SVP, Citibank, North America Marketing, Head of Search & Affiliate Marketing remarked “Whether your organization has applied for a Top Level Domain or not, any digital marketer or brand manager that is not already working on their strategy will be at a marked disadvantage once the new gTLD’s come onstream in 2013.”

To review the agenda outline and to inquire about the few remaining speaking opportunities please visit www.gtldworldcongress.com . For more information on speaking, sponsoring, partnering or attending, please contact Christine Hess at christine@convenecom.com.

Friday, October 26, 2012

The official web site of the Independent Objector was just launched in English and...in French*

Again, I would like to insist on how important his role is in the new gTLD program as he acts solely in the best interests of the public and can object to highly objectionable gTLD applications. I encourage readers of this blog to read about his role again on his web site:

The applicant auction is a private auction to resolve string contentions in advance of the ICANN last-resort auction.

The advantage of the applicant auction is that all the value of the auction stays with the applicants. Moreover, since the contentions are resolved more quickly, ICANN may award the top-level domains to the winning applicants sooner.

What are the key benefits of the Applicant Auction?

Relative to the ICANN last resort auction, the applicant auction has many benefits. The applicant auction:

maximizes the value of the domains by putting them to their best use;

rapidly resolves contention leading to faster ICANN assignment;

allows the applicants to retain the benefits of resolution, rather than sharing the benefits with ICANN;

lowers the price paid by the buyer—the applicant with the highest bid; and

compensates sellers—the applicants with lower bids—with a share of the buyer’s payment.

Workshops ended yesterday but I am sure interested applicants will learn more here.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

ICANN recently set up an extremely interesting web page called the "Applicants' Corner". This page, is an entry point to anything an applicant can be searching for: Trademark Clearinghouse, URS, Objections, etc...

I strongly suggest anyone involved, or not involved, in a new gTLD application to bookmark this page.
It would be appreciated to have an updated date next to each title anytime something new is added. I will send this request to ICANN.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Again, this video focusses on Donuts, a new gTLD applicant applying for multiple strings, but the fun part of this video is about the fantastic hypocrisy that exists in the world of new gTLDs and which starts at 0:46 when the Internet Property Lawyer starts to criticize Donuts (you will also find much more reading public comments by the way in the comments made by anonymous persons).

These are a few questions to Mr. David E. Weslow, an "Internet Property Lawyer":

What do you think about an applicant applying for a new gTLD, which is a generic term such as "grocery", and who wants one single supermarket to own it for himself ?

Do you think it is fair for the average grocery store who would have the use of such domain names but who won't be able to use them beause they are "reserved"?

For what reason on earth would one (1) American supermarket become the only legal entity to be authorized to register domain names ending in .grocery and, for example, allow itself to register such a valuable domain names like store.grocery ?

You did not understand this post? Download the public portion of the .grocery application and read its "Mission/Purpose".

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

This is a paragraph I picked up from an answer written to Petko Kantchev, Chair of the Informal Group of Experts, World Telecommunication Policy Forum 2013 (ITU) by the Internet Society (ISOC), the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), and the Number Resource Organization (NRO):

"While we acknowledge and appreciate the openness in which the discussions of the WTPF-2013 have been held so far, we would hope that WTPF discussions not be pre-constrained to specific outcomes as expressed in paragraph 1.1.5. Furthermore, those contradictions that paragraph 1.1.5 calls to avoid may need to fully disclosed in order for the openness of the WTPF process to be maintained".

Okay...

The letter ends with "we strongly suggest finding an agreement on a main theme first": I would be happy if someone coud explain to me, with no acronym, what the main theme is.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

I recently read about a new search engine for the .XXX generic Top-Level Domain recently launched. Yes, it is possible to search for pornography only.

With niche registries about to launch, these new search engines may become of a serious interest for specific industries and communities.

I myself find it interesting to be able to search in a specific domain name extension only. As a wine and rugby fan, I would love to avoid .COM web sites and focus on .WINE web sites exclusively when it comes to searching an info. Chances are high that content found on a .WINE is more relevant than on a .COM.

Well, Google has always been ready for new gTLDs and here is an example on how to find content on .museum web sites only. Let's try with a search in Virginia for example and see if there is content available on Internet on web sites using .museum domain names:

When in google, enter "virginia" in the search box and look for the advanced search which allows to search in a specific domain name extension. It is located down the search page, look for "Advanced search" (below in yellow):

Then, you should enter ".museum" in the "site or domain" search box (below in yellow) and hit on the button "Advanced Search".

All results found will only be on .museum domain names, you can check the URLs:

Basically, it means that Google may be able to provide much better results according to a search related to a specific community, an industry or even a brand represented by a new generic Top-Level Domain.
The number of mouse clicks to reach the advanced search is important and I doubt that a person searching an information goes as far as this. Shall we ever see any www.google.football or www.google.art domain names to focus on niche strings and facilitate a search? Will a search on Google.com offer the option to target a specific extension?

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

As the end of public comments is approaching (today), participants, applicants, new comers, brands, competing applicants, imbeciles and law firms are publishing their last public comments.

A few were submitted by Richard Tindal, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Donuts, an applicant in competition for the .WINE new gTLD and only applicant for the .VIN (wine in French). His comment comes in two parts and is submitted to the attention of the String Similarity Evaluation Panel.

It starts with: "Donuts takes this opportunity to contribute to application comments relating to administration of new gTLDs, the issue of confusing similarity, and the potential addition of new rights protection mechanisms (RPMs)":

There will not be multiple applications for a particular domain in the proposed .clinique TLD because this will be an exclusively-controlled TLD where only 1 party, Estée Lauder, will be able to seek registrations;

The proposed .clinique TLD will be a self-funded, exclusively-controlled TLD available only to Estée Lauder. Thus, there will be no per domain name registration cost incurred by any party for this TLD and thus, no price changes and⁄or escalations for which registrants will need to be notified.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

dotNGO, the project to establish and run the new generic Top Level Domain for the charity and NGO community is working with Public Interest Registry – the .org people.

Together they are working on the community bid to run .NGO. dotNGO was set up in 2008 to campaign for and promote the launch of a secure gTLD exclusively for the NGO sector. Until 2011 there was only a commercial initiative available (set up by dotNGO and partnered by another back-end registry provider) to apply for the domain as a “standard” or commercial application.

This commercial bid was backed by funding from an investors who saw commercial value in adding the domain to their proposed portfolio of applications. The dotNGO project as an organisation was not eligible to stand as a Community Applicant under the ICANN rules stating that the applicant for a community bid must be a pre-existing community member and not an organisation set up in response to the opening of the new gTLD space. dotNGO was of course set up in response to the ICANN process opening in mid 2008.

In 2011 the campaign among NGO community members was taken up by Public Interest registry – who run the .org domain. dotNGO is now working exclusively with the community bid and PIR to make sure that the .NGO gTLD is a success, and rests in the hands of the NGO community themselves.

Friday, September 14, 2012

There are many questions on the ICANN new gTLD program at the moment: many members of the new gTLD community start to wonder not "if" but "when" their application will see the day. Topics of the moment are:

The Clarifying question;

The Trademark ClearingHouse (...);

Objections and change requests;

Public comments;

Batching.

There are probably many others but these are the one I keep an eye on at the moment.

I have been talking to a few "future" Registrants recently and there is one question that comes back frequently: "when can I buy a new domain name?"

Well, I am sorry but I do not have this answer and with the ICANN new gTLD program delays, I doubt no one can have an answer to that question.

But, part of his answer can be found down this page on the ICANN web site and in English (fot those who understand how to read it): http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/ but again, I am sorry to say that it does not tell much so I checked around and read the Com Laude Newsletter dated September 2012. Page 3 is their version of the new timetable and the processes involved.

Once again, the content of the Newsletter is a must read for anyone who needs an update on the ICANN new gTLD program but I strongly suggest to read page 3 to have a better visibility of the WHEN question.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Many of us have read Specification 5 of the Applicant Guidebook (4 June 2012) regarding reserved names at the second level in gTLD registries. Basically: which domain names should be reserved, and not allowed to be registered.

After searching in the Applicant Guidebook annexes and the entire new gTLD web site, I remember finding the documents on the United Nations' web site...after 20+ minutes searching. The two documents I am refering to*:

The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, Technical Reference Manual for the Standardization of Geographical Names, Part III Names of Countries of the World;

The list of United Nations member states in 6 official United Nations languages prepared by the Working Group on Country Names of the United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names.

I visited the web site yesterday to check the documents again and I found a draft dated 2006. I didn't want to spend 20 more minutes trying to locate the documents again so I sent an email and received a very fast and kind answer which I want to share with you:

The first document you list is only available for purchase and is not current. If you want to purchase it, here’s the link:

Monday, August 27, 2012

There is a funny thing about the "new generic Top-Level Domains" group I moderate on LinkedIn: I never really had to do any promotion. I was just the first one to think about opening such a group. Then, progressively, people came to subscribe naturally. There will soon be 900 members.

I am pretty much familiar with new gTLDs (I created one entire project - you possibly heard about the dotVinum project for wine domain names - and I provide(d) consultancy services for many companies) but I must admit I don't write so much about new gTLDs. When I do, it is on my blog but then, I like to share it with my LinkedIn group. I also like to comment when someone posts.

Of course I could use 10 more lines here to write about my holidays with my kids and how much I like wine but I am no sure it is what you want to read here :-)

What matters reading this post is that...when you post the link of something you wrote on another web site, here is what happens:

Your link to your article is sent with its Title to all of the 874 subscribers of the group;

You offer the group a possibility to comment, ask or answer a question;

You offer another approach to understanding the ICANN new gTLD program;

If you did not write an article on another web site, you can still post a new conversation.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

A frequently asked question is: If I register "dot BRAND", will I be able to use the label “BRAND” alone in a URL or an email address? What will happen if I do?

The SSAC is the ICANN Security and Stability Advisory Committee which advises the ICANN community and Board on matters relating to the security and integrity of the Internet's naming and address allocation systems.

Far too technical for me, I did not read the report entirely and was interested to know if:

It was possible;

Will dotless domains allowed to be used.

SSAC recommendation:

Dotless domains will not be universally reachable and the SSAC recommends strongly against their use. As a result, the SSAC also recommends that the use of DNS resource records such as A, AAAA, and MX in the apex of a Top-Level Domain (TLD) be contractually prohibited where appropriate and strongly discouraged in all cases.

It took years for the wine industry to "notice" wine domain names are being created to give wine more vissibility on Internet. Now these domain names are being created - and will probably see the day - what matters now is that...they see the day the proper way.

Monday, August 20, 2012

You kow, French are these guys who invented Internet, French fries, and who, apparently, advised fast foods to serve Hamburgers with bread and cheese ;-)

Some of the new gTLD applications published by ICANN are French strings. Most of them are words commonly used by French speaking persons. Most of them have a strong potential which could represent a serious interest.

HOW I LOVE TO READ THIS: The current Evaluation phase is estimated at eleven months. This has been significantly accelerated from previously posted timelines. Additional acceleration is being sought and will be reported if and when new timelines are agreed.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

"The Applicant Guidebook states that the public comment period could be extended based on the number of applications received. Leading up to the original 60-day deadline, ICANN received input from the community that this window should be extended to provide for the additional time needed to analyze and provide thoughtful comment on the significantly larger than 500 applications originally anticipated".

Many public comments for both ".wine" and ".vin" domain name extensions were published these last days, subjects of public comments were:

Rights Protection Mechanisms;

Avoiding bad faith registrations;

Objection statement;

Geographical indication in wine sector;

عدم السماح بتسجيل هذا الاسم.

Some comments are the same "copy-paste" for different applicants.

Panels and objections grounds are:

Registry Services Evaluation Panel;

String Similarity Evaluation Panel;

String Confusion Objection Ground;

Geographic Names Evaluation Panel;

Community Evaluation Panel.

Affiliations of entities publishing these comments are:

Prudential Financial, Inc.;

TIFFANY & CO.;

AIM - European Brands Association;

H.J. Heinz;

Public TLD;

International Organisation of Vine and Wine;

Self;

Sunkist Growers, Inc.

Most of these comments are not made to protect the wine universe and most are general: I mean they could have been submitted for any string.

One is interesting, it tries to defend an existing .WINE string in an Alternative DNS root. Unfortunately, an interesting comment addressed to the "Community Evaluation Panel" is in a language I cannot read but should probably be taken into account by panelists*.

The one addressed to the "Geographic Names Evaluation Panel" and which is entitled "Geographical indication in wine sector" is written by The International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV). This organization, based in Paris, is also an intergovernmental organisation (www.oiv.int) directly affiliated to a strong wine community worldwide: it represents 44 Member states (Australia, France, South Africa...) and has many observers.

It is possible panelists consider this comment.

To read .wine public comments, you should go to here, "search by string" and enter "wine", then click on "Go": the list will appear.

* I finally translated it with Google Translate and for what I read, all I can add is "no comment".

Saturday, August 4, 2012

ICANN is an organization which deals with issues through correspondences. For a better transparency, these are made public.

The ICANN correspondence page lists all letters sent to the organization. Senders give a name, a title and an affiliation. Such affiliation can be the ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), one of its sub organizations or any other: a new gTLD project or an organization affiliated to it. Below is the list of affiliations for the month of July 2012:

The Association of National Advertisers (ANA);

ICANN Board;

The DotGreen Community, Inc.;

Foundation for Assistance for Internet Technologies and Infrastructure Development (FAITID);

United Nations;

SSAC (Security and Stability Advisory Committee).

Then, the type of issue is mentioned. Most of the time it is a "notice of breach". Here is a list for the month of July:

Notice of Breach;

Extension of the Application Public Comment Window for New gTLDs;

Processing of Applications for New Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs);

The New gTLD Program and the Public Interest;

Support of the SSAC Letter to ICANN Board;

IGO Domain Names;

New Generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) Process.

You can write to ICANN for any issue transmitting your document via electronic mail (email), facsimile (fax) and postal mail.

The comments were sent to the "Registry Services evaluation Panel" and the subject is "The Rights Protection Mechanisms".

The comment is the same for both applications:

The inclusion of stronger Rights Protection Mechanisms (RPMs) would improve the operation of this applied-for new gTLD. Such additional mechanisms may include, but are not limited to, the blocking mechanism put in place by ICM Registry for the launch of the .XXX gTLD, the blocking mechanism proposed by Uniregistry, Corp. in its gTLD applications, or the Domain Protected Marks List (DPML) proposed by Donuts, Inc. and DMIH Limited in each organizations’ respective gTLD applications.

During the .XXX sunrise registration period, a period where trademark owners are traditionally offered the opportunity to register their trademarks for a premium fee that is then paid every year upon renewal of the registration, ICM Registry also offered a "block" option. In other words, instead of requiring companies to register domain names containing their trademark and pay yearly renewal fees, ICM Registry offered companies the option of 1) choosing the traditional registration, which gives the company the option to use the domain name, or 2) paying a one-time fee to block the name in perpetuity. Internet users who navigated to blocked names would be greeted with a notice that the name was blocked, and the company would not have the option of using it unless it changed to the traditional renewal fee model. This has proved to be a welcome solution for brand owners. Similarly, a DPML blocks the registration of second-level domains that contain, or are a close variant of, a trademark registered in the Trademark Clearinghouse. The crucial difference between this mechanism and many of the post-registration dispute resolution procedures in development, such as the Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) system, is that it will prevent third parties from infringing on trademarks in the first place, thus saving trademark owners the time and financial burden of pursuing legal action against these parties.

Over 400 applications have included one of these additional RPMs, which are a proactive approach towards rights protection.

Friday, July 27, 2012

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Meet with
applicants who applied to govern .wine and .vin domain names: only one will
receive ICANN's approval (ex: www.brand.wine).

I strongly recommend to click on the link entitled: "String: WINE (download public portion of application)" to download all 3 applications.

You will be required to download the web pages. Then you will find many parts numbered but 4 of them are really interesting for the end user (those who will buy these domain names to use them with their web site and email):

18 (a) - This part explains the mission/purpose of the string (ex: .wine) according to each applicant;

18 (b) - This part explains how .WINE domain names will benefit end users (Internet users with a web site which deals with wine);

18 (c) - This part explains who and how you will be able to acquire a .wine domain name;

22 - This part is a very important one. It explains how geographic names will be protected: interested in learning how each applicant plans to protect Geographical Indications? This is where you will find your answers.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Since June the 13th, all new gTLD applications have been made public and for those who will not be in competition, it is important to start raising interest.

As a person who has been involved in the first and second level domain business, for many years now with a Registrant, a Registrar and a Registry experience, I have decided to innovate and offer new gTLD applicants what they are going to need in the coming months: raise awareness for their domain names.

Simple, cheap and efficient, the objective with this service is to have registrants to be kept informed so that they are ready to buy, when registries launch.

Monday, July 2, 2012

A major American winery launches two generic Top-Level Domains which represent two of its brands:

The .GALLO Top-Level Domain (ex: www.wine.gallo);

The .BAREFOOT Top-Level Domain (ex: www.wine.barefoot).

Both Trademarks belong to Gallo Vineyards, Inc. , a leader in the U.S. wine industry and a leading provider of California wines in select markets outside the U.S.

The new .gallo and .barefoot domain name extensions will operate as restricted registries, in which Gallo Vineyards Inc. (Gallo) can create and control domain spaces that promote their brand identity and authenticity.

Given the restricted nature of both .barefoot and .gallo gTLDs, the projected number of registration is likely to be limited. It is anticipated that a more limited number of domain names (50x2) will be registered in the first year for each extension. However, over the next few years, the number of registrations is likely to increase to about 350 (x2) domain names as Gallo develops and implements new services and marketing campaigns.

Protection of Geographic Names

Gallo intends to create relevant domain names for use including geographic names in the second or third level domain names. In accordance with registration policy and the proposed measures for protection of geographic names, Gallo will use geographic names to localise its websites in the countries in which it operates. The use of geographic names is intended to:

connect internet users with relevant information as applicable to the territory; and;

comply with required rules and regulations in the national territory.

All Two-character labels and Country and Territory Names will be initially reserved.

Gallo intends to use any Two-character label and⁄or Country or Territory Name domains in Gallo’s discretion, and to participate in or implement a process by which any Government may reasonably object to that use. Gallo envisions a number of possible scenarios for ensuring Government agreement to the use of Country and Territory names:

Gallo will send a letter to the chair of the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) informing the GAC of its intention to use geographical names in the .barefoot and/or .gallo gTLD. The letter will outline the reasons for using geographical names and provide Governments with the opportunity to contact Gallo within 90 days to reserve their respective geographical name from use in the .barefoot or .gallo gTLD.

Gallo will send a letter to the Government concerned and inform it of Gallo’s intention to use geographical names in the .barefoot and/or .gallo gTLD. The letter will outline the reasons for using geographical names and provide the Government with the opportunity to contact Gallo within 90 days to reserve its respective geographical name from use in the .barefoot or .gallo gTLD.

Gallo will send a letter to the Government concerned and inform it of Gallo’s intention to use geographical names in the .barefoot and/or .gallo gTLD. The letter will outline the reasons for using geographical names and request the Government’s approval or non-objection to the proposed use of the geographical name. Should the Government not respond to the Gallo within 90 days, Gallo will understand this to mean that the Government does not object to Gallo’s proposed use of the geographical name.

Read more about the first winery worldwide to have applied for generic Top-Level Domains: .gallo and .barefoot gTLDs

What is the purpose/mission of this proposed, .WIKI generic Top-Level Domain?

Wiki websites are a growing phenomenon on the Internet and an innovative, easy-to-use peer-production method of creating and presenting information.

They are generally open and editable and often community-driven; furthermore, individual wikis and the wiki platform are in constant flux in much the same way that the Internet as a whole is in flux.

Wikis, like the broader Internet, are repositories of information that depend on each individual user to create value; they are meeting points and revolutionary ways to share ideas and knowledge; and they are both set to be expanded through the implementation of ICANN’s New gTLD Program, and a .wiki TLD specifically.

The .wiki TLD will be an open TLD with wholesale pricing higher than currently available gTLDs;

The TLD will be targeted at subject matter wikis;

.WIKI will have an open registration policy targeted at wiki owners who use wikis;

.WIKI TLD will bring greater attention and market success to all kinds of wikis;

There will be no proof of legitimacy required for registration although we will encourage that the domains utilize wiki software.

Operating rules

Standard Sunrise Period reserved for those entities with appropriate IP and Trademark claims, which we anticipate to last about 3 months;

Landrush Period that will be open to the public, and which will last a few weeks to a month;

At the conclusion of each period we will hold closed auctions for the domains that have been applied for by more than one party;

We reserve the right to create a list of domain names within our .wiki TLD to be set aside and then sold or auctioned off to interested parties.

Friday, June 29, 2012

I read Twitts and many blogs, a lot of press, forums, and all source of information I can find related to new gTLDs and I found the 2 following ideas quite good to stop wasting more time entering the ICANN validation process:

In a Twitt, Rob Hall (from Momentous, Pool.com) wrote: " ICANN‬ should start putting new ‪gTLDs‬ in the root today. Put in 2 per day. Start testing stability. The rest is just about who owns it". Good idea but it would require the back-end registry provider to be selected;

Michael Berkens, President of Worldwide Media, Inc. wrote an article in CircleID entitled: "What if new gTLD applicants held private auctions where losing applicants, not ICANN gets the money?" This article introduces a very good idea: a benefit to private auctions over ICANN auctions is that: "parties can hold private auctions at anytime, rather than waiting for whenever ICANN is ready to hold them, thereby giving clarity on many strings which are in contention to all applicants".

The ICANN Public Forum is a conference where Stakeholders can listen to up-dates and express themselves regarding issues. It defines itself as: "The public forum is the Community's opportunity to make comments and ask questions on the main topics at each meeting directly to the Board and in front of the rest of the community". It is possible to follow the Public Forum watching a live video.

It usually happens at the end of all ICANN meetings. Yesterday was Prague's Public Forum meeting and new gTLDs were discussed in the end of it.

I will remember a few things from this forum:

The ICANN wants more stakeholders to participate.I am myself a member of one of these groups but I admit it, vocabulary used is the ICANN one (a difficult one to understand) and it is not in my native language so I do not participate so much. The basis of these exchanges is done through emails and sometimes through conference calls. You can also meet the groups but you must travel to do so (and pay your plane ticket).

Far too complex for the Internet Community to follow and understand.Internet users, in the case if new generic Top-Level Domains, are not the Registries who will launch soon to sell domain names but :

Brands who will use their domain name extension for themselves and;

"Registrants": those who are going to buy domain names to Registries through the network of Accredited Registrars. It is these people - brands and individuals - who are concerned and unfortunately, they are not the one to talk.It is these people who represent, probably 99% of the stakeholders who will buy these new domain names.It is these people whom are concerned by new gTLDs because they are the one who are going to face what comes next...

This 14 years old Asian kid who came to talk to the micro to expressed himself about the .KIDS new gTLD: on of the rare person concerned by the launching of new gTLDs.

Most of the people who expressed themselves have a financial interest in the launching of new gTLDs.

I wish I was not involved in these new gTLDs because I would have asked the right questions: those no one would dare asking.

I was happy to be able to follow the conference from my office here in Paris.

These 4 presentations are a must-read for anyone who wants to object or face an objection(s).

The new gTLD Objection and Dispute Resolution window opened on 13 June 2012 and is scheduled to run for approximately seven months. There are 4 grounds for objection: String Confusion, Legal Rights, Limited Public Interest and Community.

Who will administer objections?

Did you know an applicant facing an Limited Public Interest or Community objection must pay to answer it ?

Did you know the objection prevails if the objection is not answer in time?